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Art History Sketchbook Prompts: Set #2

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Art History Sketchbook Prompts: Set #2

My first set of Art History Sketchbook Prompts have been popular and I recently made a second set with all different artists and prompts. This new set has 16 NEW art history prompts!   16 DIFFERENT artists. These art history cards feature a selection of inspiring artworks with a prompt that can be used to spark drawing and writing. Print off the cards on cardstock, cut in half and laminate to protect them. You can print off as many copies … Read more… →

Halloween Pumpkin Painting Art Project for 1st Grade

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Halloween Pumpkin Painting Art Project for 1st Grade

Happy Halloween!  These painted pumpkins were a hit with my first graders. Every year I do some sort of pumpkin project with my students.  Whether it is actually painting on little pumpkins or creating an oil pastel drawing, creating art based on the seasons is exciting for the kids. These are similar to Artsy_T’s painted pumpkins. We mixed our paints with a little bit of paper mache (Elmer’s Art Paste)  to make them a bit more translucent.  (Not a necessary … Read more… →

Clay Flowers made by 3rd Grade

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Clay Flowers made by 3rd Grade

I’m in love with these gorgeous clay flowers my 3rd graders made. This summer when I was on vacation in Michigan, I saw some lovely clay wall hangings in an artsy shop.  They were layered clay flowers and they were HUGE!  They were so awesome.  I thought my students could make something similar on a smaller scale. The kids learned how to roll out a clay slab.  Then, they cut out various flower templates, traced them and cut them from … Read more… →

Digital Portfolio vs. Paper Portfolio

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Digital Portfolio vs. Paper Portfolio

In response to the blog post Art Teacher Portfolio Ideas, Abby Rappel asked, “Can I use my website portfolio instead of a paper portfolio on interviews or do schools still want to see paper form portfolios?” That is a great question!  When I was in college (12 years ago), we were required to make a paper portfolio in a binder.  Digital portfolios were not as big as they are now.  I believe the college now requires the students to make … Read more… →

Abstract Art inspired by Joan Miro

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Abstract Art inspired by Joan Miro

1st graders drew imaginary creatures, people and abstract imagery after looking at the art of Joan Miro.  Miro has always been one of my favorite artists! We talked about the difference between abstract and realistic artwork where artists get their ideas oil pastel and watercolor resists As the students drew their creatures and designs, they looked at the Roll-A-Miro sheets for additional lines and shape inspiration. Here are two other really nice Miro art project ideas: The Elementary Art Room … Read more… →

Postage Stamp Art Project

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Postage Stamp Art Project

Here are two templates to use for postage stamps:  one full stamp or a sheet of nine. You could also just draw them in boxes and then cut them out with those craft scissors that have the funky edges. My 4th/5th grade class designed their own postage stamps.  I brought in a box of stamps for them to look through and see up close.  I also showed them a short Powerpoint about stamps throughout history. There is information on the … Read more… →

Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

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Line Windsocks for Kindergarten

Last week, I posted about line drawings that my kindergarten students made with oil pastels and watercolor paints. To finish these off, my students glued paper strip lines (folded to make zig zags, curled and pleated) to the bottom of the page.  The students reinforced their learning of types of lines and were introduced to paper manipulation techniques. Then, we rolled and stapled them at the top and bottom to create a hanging windsock.  A little bit of double stick … Read more… →

See a Heart, Share a Heart: 3rd Grade Photography Unit on Hearts

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See a Heart, Share a Heart: 3rd Grade Photography Unit on Hearts

I was given a review copy of this new book See a Heart Share a Heart.  The author takes photographs of hearts he comes across in daily life, from a leaf to a sidewalk crack to a moth. After reading this book to my 3rd grade students, we worked as a team to find hearts or create heart artworks indoors and outdoors.  When I say we worked as a team, the kids collaborated and talked about how they could find … Read more… →

25 Amazing Books for Teaching about Art

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25 Amazing Books for Teaching about Art

Missy left on comment on a previous post: ” LOVE that you’ve included some of your favorite kids books! Any other books you’d recommend to the mom for reference for trying to teach her kids basic art principles?” I use children’s books all the time in the art classroom.  It is a great way to tie in literature and inspire the kids through stories and illustrations. Here is MY list of favorite books for teaching about art.  I highly recommend … Read more… →

Lego Art Projects

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Lego Art Projects

Our school is building an addition, so I thought projects related to “building” would be fun.  Legos are the perfect building blocks! So, we designed our own mini-figures with this template.  I originally saw this idea from The Art Teacher’s Closet. We also stamped with Legos (idea via Lego Stamping from Filth Wizardry).  Thanks to wonderful bloggers for these two ideas!  My students LOVED them!  They were so excited about these proejcts. Place your piece of paper on top of … Read more… →

Art Discussion Cards for Class Critiques or Art History Lessons

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Art Discussion Cards for Class Critiques or Art History Lessons

Hi there! I have a set of Art Discussion Cards that might be useful to you!  These questions are great to use in small group discussions, individual writing responses and as a whole class critique.  You can use these questions to discuss a famous artwork or student artwork in peer-to-peer critiques.  If you order them, all you need to do is download them, print them off, cut apart and laminate.  You can reprint them as many times as you would … Read more… →

Rules of the Art Classroom

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Rules of the Art Classroom

I made a new poster for my room.  Every couple of years I tend to tweak my art room rules.  I struggled to come up with an “I” but settled on “Imagine new things!”  I told the kids it’s not really a rule, but a reminder.  I was surprised how often I referred to the reminder on the poster.  When a student said, “I like what so and so is doing, can I copy it?” I referred to the “Imagine … Read more… →

Self-Pinning and Other Pinterest Talk

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Self-Pinning and Other Pinterest Talk

I enjoy using Pinterest.  It is a great tool for getting ideas for lesson plans and for random fun ideas for my own personal life.  Do you use Pinterest?  What are the pitfalls of Pinterest?  In this blog post, first I will talk about where I got this idea for a blog post (self-pinning) and then I will talk about some of the reasons I like Pinterest and then some pitfalls of Pinterest. Self-Pinning:  the act of pinning something you … Read more… →

Dot Artwork by Kindergarteners

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Dot Artwork by Kindergarteners

This is one of my favorite lessons and is a great way to start off the year.  Many of you have seen the book The Dot and this lesson is inspired by that book. There is a cute animated video from the book that you can see here and there is a whole website about the International Dot Day which is September 15. The kindergarteners start by tracing lids on colored paper and cutting out the circles.  They are glued … Read more… →

  • Banner with colorful artwork promoting an art shop featuring kindness coloring pages, artist activities, and resources for teachers.